This month, on Monday July 25, the Full Moon occurs with Sun in Leo opposite the Moon in Aquarius, forming one axis of a Cosmic rectangle. The crossing axis has Saturn in Libra and Mars in late Virgo in one corner, opposing Jupiter and Uranus in Aries in the other. Pluto remains in Capricorn, squaring Uranus in Aries and Saturn in Libra.

This next Tuesday, the day after Monday's Full Moon at 2°59′ Aquarius, with the Sun at 2°59′ Leo, we experience yet another in the series of events comprising the unfolding Cardinal Cross, which features an array of planets in squares and oppositions to one another, primarily in the Cardinal signs of Capricorn, Cancer, Aries and Libra. The Cardinal Cross series of Cosmic events begin in 2010 and continue through 2012, with a peak in the watershed year of 2012 fast approaching.

During much of the period 2010-2014, Saturn is in Libra, Pluto is in Capricorn, Uranus is in Aries, and from time to time, Sun or another planet enters Cancer and then the Cross is activated. For most of this period the ongoing T-square between Saturn, Pluto and Uranus is the signature event. We have experienced a series of squares and oppositions among these three planets since January 2008, when the global financial crisis exploded onto the world stage.

Tuesday's opposition between Saturn and Uranus represents the fifth pass of this extremely potent and difficult aspect, and the last in the series that began with the election of November 8, 2008.

Pluto in Capricorn symbolizes the hidden hand of wealth and institutionalized power working to preserve the privileges of the political and financial elites of the world, yet Pluto was last in Capricorn during the run-up to the American Revolution, and many astrologers are predicting a total transformation of political and economic systems worldwide during this time, or at least the beginnings of an unstoppable tidal wave of change that will extend some decades into the future.

Uranus in Aries represents the Cosmic Rebel in the sign of the adventurous Ram, and symbolizes a take-no-prisoners attitude toward implementing change in the world. This can be a good thing, since the entrenched power of Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, is virtually unshakeable, but Uranus in Aries can also represent reactive, overly aggressive responses to the perceived oppression of the Plutonian elites.

Saturn in Libra represents the power of the Cosmic Diplomat and the much-needed ability to harmonize the need for dramatic and drastic changes with the equally important need to restore government "of the people, by the people, for the people" through a democratic process rather than through aggressive or overtly revolutionary acts.

For a more complete analysis of the Cardinal Cross and its implications for Lightworkers, Earthlings, social systems, and the future of humanity, see our recent article "The Cardinal Cross of Summer 2010".

For our purposes today it is important to know that on Tuesday July 26, a Saturn in Libra, Uranus in Aries opposition becomes exact, triggering potentially explosive confrontations between the forces of the status quo and forces pushing for dramatic change.

As individuals we can feel at moments like these that we are being pulled in two or more directions at once, stretched out upon a Cosmic Cross, forced to try to harmonize conflicting demands of all kinds. We may feel pulled between our work and home life, between our desire for rest and the need to meet impending deadlines, between loved ones, between demands of our families and over-stretched work schedules, between a desire to seek shelter, quiet and meditative time, and a heartfelt desire to do our part to bring about positive change in the world through political activism of one kind or another.

We are asked by Spirit to do our best to harmonize these conflicting demands and to maintain an attitude of loving diplomacy, doing our best to satisfy all social and personal requirements to the best of our abilities. It is vital that we all exhibit the primary virtues of Charity and Mercy, being kind to ourselves and others.

Recently Jane and I had a private audience with our spiritual teacher, Shri Anandi Ma and in the midst of our conversation about many things she suddenly said, "You know, everyone is doing the best they can!" She looked deep into my eyes and I suddenly knew what she meant.

Be gentle with yourself and with those around you. Everyone in your world is a potential ally, even those you perceive as your enemies. They are also doing the best they can, believe it or not! Diplomacy, mercy and charity are the antidotes to the toxic aggression, tension and feelings of inadequacy that these tumultuous times and Cosmic Stormclouds engender in all of us.

The Sabian Symbol for this Sunday's Full Moon at 2°59′ Aquarius is "a deserter from the navy", with the keyword DEFIANCE. Marc Edmond Jones wrote of this aspect: “This is a symbol of human independence carried to a point of extreme rebellion against things as they are, here emphasized in a disregard of all consequence for the sake of immediate liberation of the spirit.” This image applies equally to the Saturn-Uranus opposition, as we have noted.

However, the Moon in Aquarius is a very cool, detached, abstracted and mental placement for the planet considered to represent the heart and soul, the unconscious motivation for spiritual growth. In the Tarot deck the card representing Moon in Aquarius is called Futility, the seven of swords, swords representing mental activity. There is a sense that one is surrounded by an array of forces that are so much stronger than the individual will that the individual will may be broken in its attempts to co-create its own reality, much as a deserter stands a high probability of being caught and punished for transgression against the group norms.

It is important to realize that we are not alone if we are feeling beseiged, oppressed and crushed by the weight of authoritarian social systems. This Full Moon may mark the moment when many, many individuals take the dramatic step of seceding from the social norms deep within their own minds and their own hearts. The time may not yet be propitious for action to transform the social system, but the time has come for Lightworkers, spiritual activists and Friends of the Earth to "tune in, turn on and drop out", to use the lexicon of the Sixties.

For the Sun at 2°59′ Leo, the Sabian Symbol is "a middle-aged woman, her long hair flowing over her shoulders, in a braless youthful garment" with the keyword INDEPENDENCE. The Sun in Leo is all about self-expression at all costs, individuation in the face of collective norms, and the primacy of one's heartfelt goals and desires. In this symbol a mature woman places her own personal freedom above the conditioned roles and societal expectations that constrict and constrain a middle aged woman's habits of dress and decorum. It's all about "letting it all hang out" as we used to say during the Sixties.

These symbols indicate that although most people may not demonstrate in the streets this month, join the Tea Party, or go door to door to convince their neighbors to "throw the bums out" or "off the banksters", many many people will be declaring their own personal indpendence from consensus reality.

This is a weekend to celebrate our own unique individuality, and to honor our own deepest heartfelt impulses and intuitive spiritual guidance. It's time everyone on Earth began to trust their own heart and their own Higher Self rather than what they see or hear on TV, radio, Internet or newspapers. That's the first step toward global transformation, after all.

Top Satya Center Stories of the Week

Although the rapid-fire drumbeat of media coverage concerning the Gulf Oil Spill has slowed to a stately march toward an assumed happy ending to this global tragedy, there is ample reason to suspend belief in the happy-face stories that predict BP's success in stopping the catastrophic flow of oil into the Gulf.

The media narrative frames the clean-up efforts as a kind of tug-of-war between BP executives and President Obama, with the news media a kind of yapping lapdog, trailing behind the two main players, and constantly being rebuffed in its efforts to document the details, scale and scope of the disaster.

This media narrative assumes that BP and the American government are equal actors in this drama, with a more or less equal claim to take the lead and shoulder the responsibility for the clean-up efforts.

My good friend James Ridgeway, longtime Washington correspondent for "Mother Jones" magazine cuts through the fog of misinformation in his latest article "Who Owns Offshore Oil? The American People, That's Who!" Jim makes the crucial point that we the people own our offshore oil reserves, and the land being drilled in the Gulf is the property of the United States of America!

BP has been given drilling rights, perhaps lease rights, but the owner of the oil and the Gulf is you and me, and our representatives in Washington are our agents in administering these waters, and these oil reserves.

The true scandal here is that President Obama and the Congress of the United States have utterly failed to protect the public domain from corporate predators from another country, in this case Great Britain, the homebase of British Petroleum. Yet when Obama attempted to place a weak-kneed and short-term moratorium on drilling the Gulf, he was struck down by a Louisiana judge with substantial investments in oil and gas industry stocks, and vilified by the Republican party and the right-wing media as a virtual Communist, intent upon "nationalizing" the oil industry.

"Since it is already owned by the public, and is supposed to be held in trust for our well-being, the threat of 'nationalizing' oil is simply a strawman. Oil is already nationalized in the United States–it is owned by the nation, and by the people. But we have basically turned over this huge asset to the energy industry, especially the oil and gas companies," Ridgeway explains.

"This has been done through a huge system of undervalued, under-regulated leases that give companies a free hand to exploit the wealth of the public domain at almost no cost. The government has placed the disposition and oversight of this valuable resource in the hands of the Interior Department, which has a long history of connivance with the extractive industries," Ridgeway continues.

"In sum, we citizens of the United States have surrendered the greatest natural resource wealth of our nation to private business interests–who naturally run it for their own profit, rather than for the public good. In return, we have demanded virtually nothing. And the little we have demanded–the most basic of safety precautions, the most modest of demands for fair pricing–have been ignored and derided by companies that regularly top the Global 500 list for profitability," argues Ridgeway.

There are currently 27,000 offshore wells in American waters and there has been no effective oversight according to reports by Reuters news agency, and no one in our government has any idea whether there is leakage around those wells. According to the Coast Guard, British Petroleum requires the American coastal naval forces to police the area of the oil spill to STOP private citizens and news media, including "The New York Times" and other media behemoths, from taking pictures near the clean-up vessels or onshore in "restricted" areas. This is done with the acquiescence of the American President and members of both parties in Congress.

We the people, who own the land, the Gulf and the oil, are NOT permitted to know what is going on at the wellhead, or in surrounding areas. Nor does the government even know how much oil is in offshore reserves. They depend totally upon oil industry analysts to tell them how much oil is there, and then calculate any lease or drilling fees accordingly.

In this case, it is clear that America has totally become a Third World country, powerless to protect its own mineral treasures, its offshore waters and land, and its own people from the predatory transnational oil companies like British Petroleum who set themselves up as the ultimate governing body on Earth unilaterally administering the most valuable mineral resources on the planet.

The American news media, President Obama and both parties in Congress see nothing unusual in this arrangement. And THAT is the true scandal of the BP Gulf Oil spill. None of this will ever change unless we, the people, demand it, in the face of opposition from the radical right-wing Tea Party and their Republican fundraisers, from the corporate news media, and from spineless Democrats in Congress and the White House.

In our mass culture, social Darwinism is a basic assumption, shared equally by rational materialist secular pundits and pious, hypocritical right-wing fundamentalist Christians, who don't even believe in Darwin's theory of evolution. It is assumed that "survival of the fittest", rugged individualism and a heartless struggle for domination provide the fundamental structure for all human interactions, on an individual and global scale. That predatory instinct is just assumed to be hard-wired into the human being's DNA. This is the kind of "science" that our ruling elites promote, and which is also the basis for the right-wing Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Moslem view that a world war, Armageddon, is ESSENTIAL to humanity's spiritual progress.

Jeremy Rifkin says this is bogus science, bad psychology, and fake spirituality and Rifkin has the science on his side in this argument.

"Scientists are discovering the physical basis for empathy in the structure of the human brain," Rifkin explains. "We are wired for social understanding and co-operation, not rugged individualism and ruthless competition. The younger generation of wired global citizens will lead the way to a new global civilization based on new sources of energy, new forms of human interaction, and new relations between people and the planet."

I've written a new article, entitled "Reviewing the God Theory", which offers a capsule summary of a worldview that harmonizes the Wisdom Teachings of the Ancient Vedas with the most advanced scientific discoveries of American astrophysicists.

"The Divine Plan is for the Absolute Energy beyond time and space to come to know itself fully by creatively individuating itself in a myriad of forms evolving over time within the framework of the space-time continuum until each spark of individuated consciousness comes to recover its true identity and Unity with the Divine. This is Satya, this is Truth."

In this article we also explain the meaning of Satya, and how we can find our own Satya Center, the still point within the heart where dwells the Divine.

British peace activist and Lightworker Palden Jenkins offers his analysis of the recent attack by Israel on the Gaza peace flotilla, and his optimistic and open-hearted take on events in the troubled Middle East are a breath of fresh air amidst the gloom and doom of conventional news media reporting on this conflict.

"It didn’t look like it, but the Freedom Flotilla demonstrated that an historic healing process is starting. We’ve crossed a tipping-point, whatever official statements might say. This is a symptom of healing crisis. But history also takes time to unfold," Jenkins contends. Read the full article, entitled "What is Right, What is Left" to comprehend the historical context that gives rise to Palden's hopeful view of a peaceful outcome to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"The flotilla was a poignant expression of non-governmental voices from the international community, a statement that some people are prepared to do something to break the logjam, for once," Jenkins explains. "For international governments, guilty of complicity in the world’s longest conflict, this was a warning. For Israel it was a sign that soft power can overwhelm hard power in the longterm – air-time can overpower helicopters. For Palestinians it hinted that they should stand firm."

"This is an exercise in conflict-transformation with geopolitical repercussions. Israel needs to start transforming strident suspicion into trust and geniality, changing an historic, ultimately self-destructive mindset over the coming years," Jenkins argues. "Palestine and the Arab world need to disengage from the antibiotic morphine drips of foreign aid and dependency given to keep them quiet in recent decades. The international community needs to rehumanise its politics and shift the balance from business toward principles, cut the arms trade and oil-dependency, re-examine its vested interests and get on with real life in the 21st Century."

Internationally acclaimed poet Richard Tillinghast explores the web of rationalizations that underpin the casual, bureaucratized cruelty that imprisons millions of innocents in Palestine, now known most commonly as "The Gaza Strip", a convenient fiction that denationalizes Gaza citizens and strips them of their legitimate history, in his beautiful, heart-opening new poem, "What is Not Allowed", which brought Jane and me to tears.

Finally, this month we welcome Ayurvedic practitioner Dr. Usha Khosla to the Satya Center alt.healer directory. In her new article "The Role of the Mind in Ayurvedic Health and Healing", Dr. Khosla helps us understand the three "gunas" or qualities of mind, which govern our constitutions and determine to a great extent our physical and mental condition, our health and proclivity to illness.

"Gunas have a profound effect on our responses and actions," Dr. Khosla explains. "By observing our gunas we can develop awareness of our mental states and consciousness. Whether we come to an understanding of our gunas through self-reflection, or through the mediation of a spiritual guru or an Ayurvedic healer, it's important to determine our own individual guna qualities of spiritual awakening -- indeed this realization is essential and must occur before healing can happen at any level. . . Seek the guidance of a recognized spiritual teacher or Ayurvedic healer for a consultation to determine the state of your own gunas and to help you formulate a program that will enable you to transcend the current limitations of your personality and nature."

Top News Stories From Around the Web

(These are excerpts from important articles that offer deep insights, a broad view of global financial, political and social trends, and a clear alternative to the mindless mainstream media propaganda machine. Click on the links below to read the full story. Don’t be satisfied with just the excerpts. It’s worth taking the time to be fully informed.)

Matt Simmons blew the whistle on the made-for-TV capping of Gulf Oil Platform

Oil industry insider Matt Simmons blew the whistle on the made-for-TV capping of the so-called oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday, July 15, during an interview on KPFK radio, the NPR station in Los Angeles.

Simmons, former energy adviser to the second President Bush, explained that according to his reading of the data from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, capping of the so-called riser and the subsequent announcement by U.S. President Obama was "the biggest con job we've ever seen."

Simmons, creator of an investment bank catering to oil companies, told radio host Ian Masters that the real problem continuing to gush oil into the Gulf was not the 6-inch "riser" that apparently has been capped amid much TV hoopla, but that an open hole or cauldron perhaps up to 10 miles distant from where British Petroleum's cameras are focused which continues to spew 120,000 BARRELS per day, and that BP's much publicized effort to drill relief wells in what the company says is an effort to stop the flow of oil is nothing but a cynical publicity stunt.

"The dimensions of this lie are beyond belief," said Simmons, explaining that the idea of a relief well is "tricky at best," since trying to hit a pipe of less than a foot in diameter 35,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf may be entirely futile because the casing of the original pipe is not even there, having blown away at some point.

But Simmons noted that both BP and Obama continue to deny that this open hole, or cauldron, even exists, even though Simmons and others insist the NOAA data from satellites prove by speed of flow and depth of light that the amount of oil that has been flowing through the on-camera riser could not possibly account for the amount of oil that has spilled into the Gulf.

"The riser is totally irrelevant," Simmons stressed, adding "and there's no way to cap the open hole." He explained that BP continues to deny the open hole exists and theorizes the continuing flow of oil into the Gulf is really just the residue from what has already been spilled during the first 90 days of the disaster.

"There is denial that there's even a problem," Simmons said. "In about a month or two people will realize that this actually was the biggest con job we've ever seen."

Simmons also noted an additional danger. "What the researchers now believe is that basically is that between 4000 and 4500 below the ocean floor lies an oil lake that's somewhere between 100 and 120 miles wide and it's about 4500 feet deep. It's this toxic waste and crude and it's releasing methane gases that are absolutely lethal which is why all the fish and dolphins and sharks and whales are dying. And workers too, which is why so many have gotten sick, or maybe really sick.

"The health problems are so serious," Simmons said. "When you inhale methane you just die."

The only possible solution, Simmons insists, "is a small diameter low level nuclear device. They insert it down the well 18000 feet, and set it off. It will fuse the rock and glass, and it's totally safe, three miles under the seabed."

Radio host Masters asked, "When do we get the truth?"

Simmons responded, "Basically the walls are starting to cave in on BP. there are only so many things you can make up."

"But here's the really scary thing," Simmons told the Pacifica radio audience. "If we have a storm, let alone a hurricane, what hurricanes basically do is they churn up cold water from the base of the Gulf. This time it's not going to be cold water, it's going to be black poisonous crude. It will also shut down the 18 power plants along the Gulf Coast.

As the U.S. Senate finally prepares to bring climate-related legislation to the floor, it has become painfully obvious that the most crucial ingredient in any such debate - a true sense of urgency - is completely absent. Despite the fact that all future life on the planet hangs in the balance and a point of irreversible runaway warming is being rapidly approached, the Senate is proceeding as if it is sleepwalking in a stupor. It has allowed the fossil fuel industry to sabotage all effort at meaningful carbon emission reductions, and will only be considering legislation that is woefully inadequate to prevent catastrophe.

Ignored by mainstream media, recent scientific findings have the potential to turn the world as we know it upside down. Situated off the Siberian coast - in an area containing more carbon than that known to exist in all the world's oil, coal, and natural gas reserves - is the climate threat of all climate threats. Some call it the "Arctic super carbon pool". Others call it a "methane time bomb". The reason for this ominous latter description is the quite real threat of an unstoppable chain reaction which could release much or all of this tremendous stockpile. This is a nightmare scenario feared by many tracking the evolution of the climate emergency.

Methane is a particularly powerful greenhouse gas, at least 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Once the methane - currently in frozen form - begins to thaw and release gas, it either oxidizes in the water or travels to the surface and enters the atmosphere. If the latter occurs, it can act as a strong warming agent and therefore cause even more of the frozen methane to thaw and release gas. The scientific term for this self-perpetuating cycle is "reinforcing feedback".

The "conventional wisdom" was that this thawing and venting of methane would not manifest for at least 100 years. But as the case has been with much such "wisdom" these days, scientists have encountered great difficulty in accurately predicting the full consequences of the unprecedented alterations being imposed on the planet by greenhouse gases. The reality of climate disruption has continued to outpace the projections. Recent studies of the Siberian methane show that a very serious amount is already venting to the atmosphere.

In their report (summarized in Chapter 6), researchers Natalia Shakhova and Igor Semiletov describe that methane is now being released across a full 50% of a quite sizable study area in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf. Based on 5100 seawater samples taken from 1080 different locations, they report that 80% of the bottom water and 50% of the surface water is "super-saturated" with methane. Adding to the seriousness is the fact that this methane is not oxidizing in the water. Due to the shallow depths of these seabeds, the methane is traveling directly to the surface and venting into the atmosphere.

Time to awaken to a new dreadful reality. Just like autumn 2008, all over again, the stock market is breaking down in a powerful visible manner, after nothing was fixed with the vast financial structures but much money was spent. If only the USGovt had decided to address the problems instead of funding the myriad liquidity facilities, which by the way serve as a virtual banking system. If only the USGovt had decided to address the problems instead of funding the US Federal Reserve equity reserves, as in excess bank reserve lures. If only the USGovt had decided to address the problems instead of funding the bank preferred stock and bank executive bonuses. If only the USGovt had decided to address the fundamental need for capital formation toward job growth instead of simple extensions of jobless benefits.

If only the USGovt had decided to address the dire need to liquidate impaired assets instead of warehousing them, which happens by the way, to produce irreconcilable bank system constipation within the loan processing system. If only the USGovt had decided to address the cancerous large corporations too big to fail that must be permitted to die, instead of letting them seize greater power in USGovt and Wall Street functions. If only the USGovt had decided to address one of the root causes of USEconomic deterioration, namely endless war, so that more funds would be available for that essential capital formation and job growth, not to mention state budget plugs, as the 50 states suffer from massive capital drain through taxation squandered at the federal level, a drain that includes war.

When no solutions are achieved, even no solutions pursued, the sugar high vanishes, the adrenalin rush wears off, and the underlying root causes return as the same symptoms to the sick patient. With no remedy, the symptoms turn much worse!! The symptoms return with a vengeance, like right here, right now. Shocks to the body economic are imminent, assured by lack of required credit for almost two years, compounded by the Gulf of Mexico poison event, sure to result in a killed exterminated appendage.

The USGovt and Wall Street have never made any legitimate effort to reform or restructure. Their entire motivation and purpose has been to raid the USTreasury and Congressional till, to grab as much banker aid as possible, and offer nothing in return for bonafide reform.

The tax cut stimulus is going away. The car purchase tax credits are going away. The mortgage bond monetization program is going away. The jobless benefit extension beyond 99 weeks is going away. The lack of job prospects is not going away. The missing incentive for business expansion is not going away. The vast budget gaps and pension obligations for many US states is not going away. The home foreclosures and bankruptcies are not going away. The challenges in securing credit and loans is not going away. The syndicate control of the USDept Treasury is not going away. The sacred defense budget is not going away.

The endless war is not going away, nor are its heavy costs. The Independence Day commemoration (July Fourth) brought to mind the sacrifices by soldiers. CNN ran a surprisingly candid report during the holiday. The USMilitary is spending $1 billion per year to fight each known Taliban in Afghanistan, from an admission. The annual budget in the wartorn nation is $100 billion, to fight an estimated 100 Taliban from Pentagon data. This war is about narcotics production, processing, distribution, trafficking, and money laundering. See the recent attacks at the narcotics money laundering clearinghouse in Baghdad Iraq, run by JPMorgan Chase. The Trade Bank of Iraq has been the site in bombings outside and murders inside. The natives have finally figured out what the bank is all about. They might be trying to muscle in for a share. Even the Russian Govt has brought attention to the vast export of heroin to their country from the US-occupied nation of Afghanistan. Oh lest one forget, vast sums of cash are exiting the Kabul capital, billion$ loaded on flights. The USMilitary has exported freedom to the tiny rugged nation of Afghanistan, the burial ground of empires whose leaders cannot read history books. In defiance, they choose to ignore history as the next chapter is written about them in a continuing theme. As the US slides further into the Third World, my forecast is for the USMilitary to morph into a fully functioning private syndicate with many business units. Profit has been its motive for many years, hardly defense of our liberty.

The picture becomes increasingly clearer as Washington lifts its veil. A financial overhaul that was supposed to be a momentous effort has finally been voted in, only to reveal that none of the Wall Street banks will be effectively affected until 2022, which is the sort of number that you can read as meaning: "never". At the same time, Capitol Hill has thrown out a proposal to provide emergency support for millions of Americans who remain unemployed for more than 26 weeks, while those who haven't found a job for 99 weeks or more are in the indefinite doghouse.

It truly is a matter of bail the banks and screw the people. What remains to be seen is how those people will react. All the more so when they find out that those same Wall Street banks will soon come calling again for more bailouts, which is now inevitable and guaranteed to happen. Our fine leaders may try to find a creative way to do it, one that won't attract too much attention, but you can bet there’ll be more taxpayer money flowing to Lower Manhattan, while for "ordinary" citizens services will be cut, taxes raised, and jobs disappeared.

Nor is this an exclusively American phenomenon. European countries face the same fate, even though it's not as easy over there as a Republican filibuster to condemn citizens to abject poverty.

The options are dead(ly) simple. We will find out over the next few months that our banks are screamingly underfunded, and that not bailing them out will lead to bank runs and panics. How bad the situation already is becomes obvious through for instance Reuters' James Saft, who writes that in the next three years,

Global banks face $5 trillion rollover

Banks around the world must refinance more than $5 trillion of debts in the coming three years[..]

For banks in the UK, according to the Bank of England Financial Stability Report, the refinancings amount to about $1.2 trillion by the end of 2012. If banks in Britain raise funds at the same pace they have been this year, they will only collect half of their needs in time. [..]

U.S. banks have issued $230 billion of debts in the first five months of the year, about 60 percent of the rate they need to achieve over the three year period. Euro zone banks have issued $133 billion, or about 70 percent of their needed run rate. One easy to see consequence is that, all things being equal, the cost for banks to issue debt should rise, as should competition among banks for consumer deposits. [..]

The track record of the past three years tells us one thing is likely: the banks will get their money, courtesy of government support if needed. Unless there is a profound sovereign debt crisis, we can count on governments taking the needed steps to see that the banking system does not fall over for lack of funding. So, if liquidity or support schemes need to be extended or invented anew, they will be.[..]

The BOE used an assumption that for every 7 basis points of additional lending spread charged by banks should create a 0.1 percent permanent reduction of GDP. On their estimates upping capital in banking by one percent then equates to present value cost of about 4.0 percent of UK GDP. This puts into perspective not just how challenging it will be to create growth going forward, but just how artificially growth during the boom was goosed by very loose and easy lending.

For the UK and for Europe, this will be happening at the same time that fiscal austerity programmes will be dampening growth. Something has to give, and it will probably be monetary policy. Look for extraordinarily low rates for a very long time, and for new and bigger quantitative easing programmes.

In short: banks have enormous funding problems, and even if they can sell debt, they’ll have to pay a lot more to do so, in the same marketplace that's already drowning in sovereign and municipal debt. The ultimate consequence is going to be that not only will your wages, pensions, health care and other services fade and slowly vanish, what's left of your wealth will increasingly be confiscated and handed to a bunch of rich gamblers with political clout.

Meditation Moment: Power and Fear

"There are people who are daring who count on the fear they inspire in others to enable them to carry out their projects.

This is why those who are daring greatly appreciate those who are fearful, for although they will certainly be of no help to them in their hazardous or harmful undertakings, they will at least not disturb them, since they will carefully step out of their way.

Heaven does not appreciate the fearful, because they are like cracked jugs that don't hold anything: when faced with difficulties, with obstacles, they forget their beliefs and are capable of the greatest cowardice. Heaven seeks audacious, fearless beings who, once they have encountered the light, place themselves in its service and face every obstacle they may encounter, both from outside and from within. "

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OUR AUTHORS

Computer programmer Ace Hoffman’s blog on the hazards of nuclear power receives tens of millions of hits yearly. Ace’s book THE CODE KILLERS is an expose of the nuclear power industry. Free download, too!

Betsy Cashen studied nutrition at Cornell University and has been a practicing dietitian since 1986. She was co-manager of a biodynamic farm for several years. She lives in Claverack, NY. If you want to send her a message, use the Satya Center contact us form.

Curtis is the co-owner and Editor of Satya Center. Curtis has been a publisher, editor and investigative journalist for 30 years, at WORTH magazine, Ameritrade, The Village Voice, The Nation, Mother Jones and many other publications. Curtis is a certified past-life regression therapist and a Reiki Master.

Dennis Klocek is Director of the Consciousness Studies Program at Rudolf Steiner College in Sacramento, CA. Dennis is author of Seeking Spirit Vision, Drawing from the Book of Nature, Weather and Cosmos, and A Bio-Dynamic Book of Moons.

Dr. Marina Angeli is a psychiatrist in private practice in Athens, Greece. She is a graduate of the Flower Essence Society Practitioner Training and Certification Program. For more information, write to Dr. Angeli.

Jane Sherry is co-owner and Artistic Director of Satya Center. Jane is a fine artist with work in the Getty Museum, the New York Public Library, major Ivy League universities, and many private collections. Jane is also a poet, a biodynamic gardener, a Reiki Master, and a certified past life regression therapist.

Jed A. Myers is a Seattle poet and musician whose writing has been published in various journals. His loose network of collaborators, ArtsforHearts, puts on benefits in local spaces for a wide range of real life causes.

Julia Brayshaw lives in Olympia, Washington where she maintains a private pratice in psychotherapy. She is a Flower Essence Society certified practitioner. Julia can be reached by contacting the Flower Essence Society.

Linde Farmer R.N. is a Wellness nurse who has written for LILIPOH Magazine. LILIPOH is a quarterly magazine exploring Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophical approach to nutrition, health, farming, education, spirituality and the environment.

Marcel Vogel one of America’s most prominent late Twentieth Century spiritual scientists. Marcel Vogel worked for IBM for many years, and is credited with creating the famous “Vogel healing wands” made of quartz crystal which are so popular around the world today. Visit our Vogel archive, with many of Marcel’s writings.

Mirabai Starr is the author of highly acclaimed new translations of the writings of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. She teaches philosophy and world religions at the University of New Mexico.

Peter Dale Scott, a former Canadian diplomat and English Professor at the UC Berkeley, is a poet, writer, and researcher. His books include The War Conspiracy, The Iran-Contra Connection, Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America, and Drugs Oil and War.

Phillip Lindsay has been a student and teacher of the Ageless Wisdom and Esoteric Astrology for over 25 years, and is the author of several books on the subject. See Philip’s website, The Esoteric Astrologer.

Rene received an M.D. from the University of Havana. He has coordinated many research and development projects in Homeopathy, including the Homeopathy Hospital Project. Rene has also taught workshops on Homeopathy in Cuba and Guatemala.

Ross Rentea, M.D. has been in Chicago since 1983, practicing as an anthroposophical doctor together with Andrea, his wife, at their clinic, the Paulina Medical Clinic. Visit their new website, TrueBotanica.com.

Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author. His most recent book is The Sense of Being Stared At, And Other Aspects of the Extended Mind. His book Seven Experiments that Could Change the World was voted Book of the Year by the British Institute for Social Inventions.

Starhawk, a San Francisco writer, is committed to the marriage of spiritual work and political activism. She is the author of The Spiral Dance, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying, and other works of nonfiction and fiction.

While Trish Mooney worked as a dance and movement instructor she discovered she could see auras and energy. She became a Flower Essence Society Certified Practitioner after attending the 1999 FES Practitioner Training Program. Contact Trish.

Walter Wink was Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. Among his various books are The Human Being, Peace Is The Way, and The Bible in Human Transformation. Visit Walter's page at Amazon.com.